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1 HOW RACE AND RELIGION SHAPE MILLENNIAL ATTITUDES ON SEXUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox

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3 HOW RACE AND RELIGION SHAPE MILLENNIAL ATTITUDES ON SEXUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Findings from the 2015 Millennials, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health Survey Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox

4 Acknowledgements The 2015 Millennials, Sexuality and Reproductive Health Survey was conducted by Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and was made possible by generous funding from the Ford Foundation. The authors would like to thank Joanna Piacenza for her communications and editorial support; Rachel Lienesch and Betsy Cooper for their dedicated research assistance; Charlotte Gendron for her editorial assistance; Rachel Laser for assistance with questionnaire design; and Tim Duffy for his able assistance with graphics and report design and layout. We would also like to thank West End Strategy Team for providing communications outreach for the survey release. PRRI would also like to thank the staff of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation for hosting the public release of the survey. Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 2027 Massachusetts Ave NW, 3rd Floor Washington D.C For more information, contact Released on March 27, Cover portraits by Francesco Salvaggio

5 Contents 1 Executive Summary 8 A Brief Portrait of Millennials 10 The Political Outlook of Millennials 11 Experiences and Opinions About Sex Education 15 Sexual Health and Support 22 Attitudes About Contraception 27 Attitudes About Abortion 32 The Situationalist Ethics of Millennials on Sexual Behavior 34 Sexuality and Social Stigma 36 Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment on Campus and at Work 41 Discrimination in Society 44 Gender Roles and Marriage 46 Sexual Identity and Attraction 48 Appendix 1: Survey Methodology 50 Appendix 2: About PRRI and the Authors

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7 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 1 Executive Summary A majority (53%) of millennials say the country has gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track, compared to 45% who say it is going in the right direction. White and black millennials are near mirror opposites: close to two-thirds (64%) of white millennials say the country has gotten off on the wrong track, while more than seven in ten (71%) black millennials say it is moving in the right direction. A majority (53%) of Hispanic millennials also say the country is moving in the right direction. Asian-Pacific Islander (API) millennials are more divided 49% say right direction, 46% say wrong track. Sex Education Three-quarters (75%) of millennials favor teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools, while 21% are opposed. Support for this policy cuts across all racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Nearly one-quarter (23%) of millennials report they did not have a sex education class in middle or high school. Notably, millennials who attended religious high schools are significantly more likely than those who attended public high schools to report that they had no sex education courses (32% vs. 21%, respectively). Among millennials who had a sex education class in school, nine in ten say that the information they received is very (39%) or somewhat (51%) accurate. However, nearly four in ten (37%) millennials say that sex education classes were not helpful to them in making decisions about sex and relationships. Black (27%) and Hispanic millennials (32%) are about twice as likely as white (14%) and API millennials (12%) to say that sex education classes were very helpful to them in making decisions about sex and relationships. More than two-thirds (67%) of millennials say that emphasizing safe sexual practices and birth control is a better way to prevent unintended pregnancy than emphasizing abstinence from sex (23%). There is general agreement across racial and ethnic lines on this question. White evangelical Protestant millennials stand apart from other millennials, with half (50%) favoring an emphasis on birth control, compared to 40% favoring an emphasis on abstinence, and eight percent in favor of emphasizing both. Health Insurance Coverage More than eight in ten millennials say that health insurance should include coverage for HIV and STD testing (87%) and prescription contraception (82%). Sixty percent say that emergency contraception should also be covered by health insurance, although support is somewhat greater among millennial women than millennial men (64% vs. 56%, respectively). Less than half (45%) of millennials say abortion services should be covered by health insurance, while 51% say they

8 2 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH should not be covered. Views about abortion coverage are stratified by educational attainment: a majority (54%) of millennials who have a four-year college degree, versus only 38% of those with a high school degree or less, support health insurance covering abortion. A majority (58%) of millennials including majorities of API (64%), Hispanic (67%), black (57%), and white millennials (55%) say privately owned corporations should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception. However, strong political divisions persist. While 73% of Democratic and 57% of independent millennials say privately owned corporations should be required to provide contraception coverage in employees health care plans, only 38% of Republican millennials agree. Comfort Discussing Sexual Health Issues The degree to which millennials feel very comfortable discussing health issues varies considerably depending on the topic and the other person involved in the conversation. Two patterns stand out consistently across health topics: black millennials are less likely than other millennials to feel very comfortable discussing health matters with their spouse or partner, and API millennials are less likely to feel very comfortable talking about these topics with their parents. For example, white (51%), API (52%), and Hispanic millennials (46%) are more likely than black millennials (32%) to say they are very comfortable talking about STIs with their partner or spouse. When seeking out information about sexual health and relationships, millennials most regularly rely on three sources: doctors (45%), friends (44%), and the Internet (43%). Fewer millennials say they consult their parents (30%), a religious leader (11%), a therapist (11%), or a teacher (10%) for information pertaining to sexual health. Sexual Health Experiences Nearly one in five (18%) millennial women report having used emergency contraception at some point, and roughly three in ten (29%) say a close friend or family member has used this form of birth control. Less than one in ten (7%) millennial women report having an unintended pregnancy, although this experience is common within their social network 42% report that this has happened to a close friend or family member. Eight percent of millennial women report that they themselves have had an abortion, but four times as many (36%) say a close friend or family member has had an abortion. A similar number of millennial women (9%) report that they became a parent as a teenager, while nearly half (46%) of millennial women say that a close friend or family member became a parent as a teenager. The sexual health experiences of millennial women vary considerably by race and ethnicity. Hispanic millennial women report higher usage of emergency contraception than millennial women overall. Black millennial women are more likely than other millennial women to know someone who has had an abortion.

9 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 3 Only one percent of millennials overall report that they themselves are HIV positive or have AIDS, but 13% report that they have a close friend or family member living with HIV or AIDS. Black (23%) and Hispanic millennials (21%) are more than twice as likely as white (8%) or API millennials (9%) to say they have a close friend or family member who is HIV positive or has AIDS. Contraception More than seven in ten (71%) millennials say that using artificial birth control is morally acceptable, compared to fewer than one in ten (9%) who say it is morally wrong. Fourteen percent say it depends on the situation. Overwhelming majorities of virtually every subgroup of millennials say it is morally acceptable to use contraception. Nearly eight in ten (78%) millennials also favor making all forms of legal contraception readily available on college campuses. Most millennials (55%) oppose requiring a prescription to obtain emergency contraception, like the morning after pill, while 40% are in favor of this requirement. Eight in ten (81%) millennials favor increasing access to contraception for women who cannot afford to pay for it. Notably, this support for increasing access to birth control for women cuts across all racial, ethnic, religious, and political groups. Six in ten (60%) millennials including 64% of women and 55% of men agree that access to contraception is critical for the financial security of women, while more than one-third (36%) disagree. Seventy-three percent of Democratic millennials and 58% of independent millennials say that access to contraception is critical for women, while less than half (44%) of Republican millennials agree. Abortion Millennial attitudes about the legality of abortion generally mirror the attitudes of the general public. A majority of millennials say that abortion should be legal in most cases (33%) or legal in all cases (22%), while more than four in ten say it should be illegal in most cases (27%) or illegal in all cases (15%). A majority (55%) of millennials also say at least some health care professionals in their community should provide legal abortions, compared to 36% who disagree, and seven percent say they are unsure or that it depends on the circumstances. Notably, however, there are no significant differences between the opinions of millennial men and women on the issue of abortion. Millennials are divided by religion on the issue of abortion. On one side, at least six in ten black Protestant (61%) and white mainline Protestant millennials (63%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do 79% of religiously unaffiliated millennials. White Catholic millennials are evenly split between those who say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (51%) and those who say it should be illegal in all or most cases (49%). On the opposing side, majorities of Hispanic Catholic (55%) and Hispanic Protestant millennials (61%) think abortion should be illegal in

10 4 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH all or most cases. White evangelical Protestant millennials stand out as the group most opposed, with eight in ten (80%) saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Personal experience with abortion strongly impacts views about legality. Among women who report having had an abortion, nearly eight in ten (79%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 20% who say it should be illegal. Similarly, among millennial women who have a close friend or family member who has had an abortion, 63% say it should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 37% who say it should be illegal. A majority (56%) of millennials also oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion, compared to 40% who favor such policies. Majorities of millennials in the Northeast (64%), South (58%), and West (55%) say they oppose making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion. Millennials in the Midwest are divided about whether it should be more difficult for a woman to get an abortion (47% oppose, 48% favor). Half (50%) of millennials living in the South say it is somewhat or very difficult to obtain an abortion in their community, compared to roughly four in ten millennials living in the West (40%) and Midwest (42%), and only one-third (33%) of millennials living in the Northeast. While a majority of millennials are supportive of the legality of abortion and the availability of abortion services, most oppose a policy that makes abortion legally available to young people age 16 or older without parental approval. Nearly six in ten (59%) millennials oppose making abortion services available to young women age 16 or older without parental consent, while 37% support this policy. Most millennials are uncomfortable attaching themselves exclusively to the pro-life and prochoice labels that have defined the abortion debate for decades. Only about one-quarter of millennials identify exclusively as pro-life (25%) or pro-choice (27%). Approximately as many millennials (27%) say that both labels describe them equally well, while 22% say neither label describes them well. There are no differences between millennial men and women, but the willingness to embrace these labels varies considerably by racial and ethnic background. Moral Evaluations of Behaviors Related to Sexuality and Reproductive Health When evaluating the morality of sexual behaviors, millennials generally do not make black-andwhite judgments, but rather factor circumstances into their reasoning. In fact, across seven behaviors related to sexuality, there were no issues for which a majority pronounced them morally wrong in general. For example, while 41% of millennials say that sex between two people under the age of 18 is morally wrong compared to one-quarter (24%) who say it is morally acceptable nearly three in ten (29%) say it depends on the circumstances. On the issue of abortion, millennials strongly factor specific circumstances into their moral evaluations. More than one-third (35%) of millennials say having an abortion is morally wrong, compared

11 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 5 to 21% who say it is morally acceptable but a plurality (39%) say that the morality of a decision to have an abortion depends on the particular situation. Compared to other ethnic groups, Hispanic millennials exhibit the greatest moral reservations about having an abortion. Close to half (45%) of Hispanic millennials say having an abortion is morally wrong, compared to 35% of white, 30% of black, and 23% of API millennials. However, the importance of circumstances is apparent even among Hispanic millennials. While only 16% of Hispanic millennials say having an abortion is morally acceptable in general, 36% say the morality of the decision depends on the situation. Most millennials (56%) agree that in certain circumstances, having an abortion is the most responsible decision a woman can make, compared to 40% who disagree. A majority of white (55%), black (59%), and API millennials (70%) agree that in some circumstances, having an abortion can be the most responsible decision a woman can make. Hispanics are closely divided over whether having an abortion can be the most responsible decision or not (51% vs. 46%, respectively). Stigma Related to Sexuality Millennials say that no group faces more negative social judgment than transgender people. Nearly half (47%) of millennials say that transgender people face a lot of stigma in their community. More than one-third of millennials say that a person living with HIV or AIDS (36%), a pregnant woman under the age of 18 (34%), and parents under the age of 18 (34%) also face a lot of negative social judgment in their community. Fewer than three in ten millennials say that gay or lesbian people (29%) or a woman who has had an abortion (24%) face a lot of stigma in their community. Sexual Assault Fifteen percent of millennial women report that they themselves have been sexually assaulted, and more than twice that number (34%) report that this has happened to a close friend or family member. There are large disparities in experiences with sexual assault by race and ethnicity. Rates are highest among black millennial women, among whom nearly one in five (19%) report being the victim of sexual assault and twice as many (38%) say a close friend or family member has experienced sexual assault. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of millennials, including 71% of men and 75% of women, say sexual assault is somewhat or very common on college and university campuses. More than eight in ten (81%) black millennials say sexual assault is somewhat or very common in colleges and universities, compared to less than three-quarters of white (74%), Hispanic (70%), and API millennials (63%). Fewer, but still a majority of millennials (53%), say incidents of sexual assault are somewhat or very common in high schools. Seven in ten (70%) black millennial women and two-thirds (66%) of black millennial men say sexual assault is a common problem in high schools. A larger gender

12 6 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH gap exists among white millennials; 59% of white millennial women say sexual assault is very or somewhat common in high schools, compared to only 44% of white millennial men. Six in ten (60%) millennials, including 63% of women and 56% of men, say colleges or universities are not doing enough to address the problem of sexual assault. A majority (53%) of millennials, including nearly six in ten (59%) women but only 47% of men, say that high schools are not doing enough to address the issue of sexual assault. Discrimination in the Workplace Most millennials think that discrimination against women in the workplace remains a significant problem in the U.S. Millennial women are much more likely than millennial men to agree that women get fewer opportunities than men for good jobs (67% vs. 49%, respectively), that women still do not receive equal pay for equal work (72% vs. 56%, respectively), and that employers should make special efforts to hire and promote qualified women because of current and past discrimination (68% vs. 53%, respectively). Work-Life Balance and Marriage Millennials view women having a full-time job as a less serious problem for families than men who concentrate too much on work. Roughly two-thirds (66%) of millennials disagree that family life suffers when the woman has a full-time job, compared to 30% who agree. Millennials are nearly evenly split over whether family life suffers because men concentrate too much on their work (49% agree, 47% disagree). Millennial men and women are about equally likely to see men who work too much, rather than women who work full-time, as the greater threat to family life. Millennials are split on the necessity of romantic partners dividing family and household responsibilities evenly. A slim majority (51%) of millennials agree that it is not that big of a deal if one person in a relationship takes on most of the family and household responsibilities, while 46% disagree. Notably, the opinions of married millennials are nearly identical to those who are single, and there is only a modest gender gap on the question. One-quarter (25%) of millennials agree that marriage has become old-fashioned and out of date, while about seven in ten (71%) disagree. Both married and single millennials offer nearly the same generally positive assessment of marriage.

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14 8 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH A Brief Portrait of Millennials Race and Ethnicity One of the defining characteristics of the Millennial generation (Americans born between ) is its racial and ethnic diversity. According to the recently released American Values Atlas, 1 only 55% of millennials identify as non-hispanic white, while 21% are Hispanic, 13% are black, six percent are Asian-Pacific Islander (API), and four percent are mixed-race. 2 A comparison to older Americans highlights the uniqueness of the Millennial generation. More than eight in ten (82%) seniors (ages 65 and older) identify as non-hispanic white, while less than one in ten identify as black (8%), Hispanic (6%), API (1%), or mixed-race (2%). Religious Affiliation Another major distinguishing characteristic of the Millennial generation is its religious composition most prominently, the disproportionate number who do not formally identify with any religious tradition. One-third (33%) of millennials are religiously unaffiliated, making it the single most common religious identity among this generation. The overall religious profile of millennials diverges sharply from that of older Americans. For example, while less than one-third (31%) of millennials identify as white, non-hispanic Christians, nearly seven in ten (68%) seniors do. 3 Among millennials, Hispanic Catholics (10%) rival the size of white Christian religious traditions, such as white evangelical Protestant (11%), white mainline Protestant (10%), or white Catholics (8%). The single most common religious group among seniors is white evangelical Protestants, who account for more than one-quarter (27%) of this group. Notably, no single religious group accounts for more than approximately one in ten millennials. Political Affiliation and Ideology Compared to the general public, millennials are less likely to identify with either major political party. Nearly half (47%) of millennials say they are politically independent, compared to 40% of 1 In this introductory section, all demographic, religious, and political data are based on PRRI s American Values Atlas (AVA) ( in order to facilitate profile comparisons among millennials, seniors, and the general population. The AVA contains a sample size of over 50,000 respondents, including 12,528 millennials. Also note that in order to preserve generational consistency, we used a definition of millennials in the AVA of years of age, since data collection for that dataset was completed in Here and throughout the report, white refers to non-hispanic whites, black refers to non-hispanic blacks, and we use the acronym API to refer to respondents who self-identify as Asian-Pacific Islander. 3 The category of white Christian includes those who identify as white evangelical Protestant, white mainline Protestant, white Catholic, or Mormon.

15 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 9 TABLE 1. Religious Affiliation by Age White evangelical Protestant White mainline Protestant White Catholic Mormon Hispanic Catholic Black Protestant Hispanic Protestant Other ethnic Christian Jewish Other world religions Other religion* Unaffiliated DK/Refused Total * The other religion category includes respondents who identified as a member of a New Age religion, Native American religion, Unitarian-Universalist, or some religion that was not further specified. Source: PRRI, American Values Atlas, Americans overall. Among millennials who align with a political party, attachments skew Democratic. Twenty-nine percent of millennials identify as a Democrat, while 17% identify as a Republican. There are stark racial divides among millennials by party affiliation. More than three-quarters (76%) of Republican millennials are white, while 13% are Hispanic, four percent are black, and four percent are API. Democratic millennials, in contrast, are even more racially and ethnically diverse than millennials overall. Fewer than half (43%) of Democratic millennials are white, while 24% are black, 21% are Hispanic, and six percent are API. Roughly equal numbers of millennials identify as conservative (30%), moderate (30%), and liberal (33%), representing a significant shift from the general public and older Americans. Among the general public, conservatives hold a sizable advantage over liberals (37% vs. 28%, respectively). The ideological divide is even wider among seniors, among whom nearly half (45%) identify as conservative, compared to less than one-quarter (22%) who identify as liberal.

16 10 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH The Political Outlook of Millennials Overall, millennials are somewhat pessimistic about the general direction of the country. A majority (53%) of millennials say the country has gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track, compared to 45% who say it is going in the right direction. However, there are major cleavages across racial and ethnic groups on this question. White and black millennials are near mirror opposites: close to two-thirds (64%) of white millennials say the country has gotten off on the wrong track, while more than seven in ten (71%) black millennials say it is moving in the right direction. A majority (53%) of Hispanic millennials also say the country is moving in the right direction. Asian-Pacific Islander (API) millennials are more divided 49% say right direction, 46% say wrong track. There are similar patterns evident regarding the job approval for President Barack Obama. Overall, 53% of millennials approve of the job Obama is doing as president, compared to 44% who disapprove. Nearly six in ten (58%) white millennials disapprove of Obama s job performance, compared to 40% who approve. By contrast, nearly nine in ten (87%) black millennials approve of Obama s job performance, as do nearly two-thirds of Hispanic (66%) and API millennials (63%). FIGURE 1. Views of President Obama s Job Performance Among Millennials by Race/Ethnicity Approve Disapprove All Millennials White API Hispanic Black 10 Source: Public Religion Research Institute, Millennials, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health Survey, March 2015.

17 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 11 Experiences and Opinions About Sex Education Educational Background The vast majority of millennials report attending public middle schools (81%) and public high schools (82%). Only about one in ten millennials report attending a private religiously affiliated middle school (9%) or high school (8%), and even fewer report attending a private secular school. There are no significant differences between racial and ethnic groups in the type of secondary school they attended, but there are notable differences by religious affiliation. White Catholic millennials and white evangelical Protestant millennials are more likely than other groups to have either attended private religious high schools or been home-schooled as teenagers. One-quarter of white evangelical Protestant millennials say they attended a private religious high school (14%) or were home-schooled during their high school years (11%). More than one in five (20%) white Catholic millennials report attending a private religious high school or being home-schooled for high school (2%). By contrast, Hispanic Catholic millennials are much more likely to have attended public schools less than one in ten report attending a private religious high school (6%) or being home-schooled (1%). Sex Education Approximately three-quarters of millennials report having at least some exposure to sex education in middle or high school. Seventeen percent report taking only a sex education class in middle school, while roughly the same amount (19%) say they only received sex education instruction TABLE 2. When Millennials Received Sex Education Classes By Race/Ethnicity All Millennials White Black Hispanic API Middle school only High school only Both middle and high school Did not take sex education class Refused Total Source: Public Religion Research Institute, Millennials, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health Survey, March 2015.

18 12 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH in high school. Roughly four in ten (39%) millennials say they took a sex education class as part of both their middle school and high school curriculum. Nearly one-quarter (23%) of millennials report they did not take a sex education class in middle or high school. Notably, millennials who attended religious high schools are significantly more likely than those who attended public high schools to report that they had no sex education courses (32% vs. 21%, respectively). There are only modest racial differences in the degree of participation in sex education classes, but substantially larger differences by religious background. More than four in ten white (42%) and Asian-Pacific Islander (API) millennials (41%) report having taken a sex education class in middle and high school, while only about one-third of black (32%) and Hispanic millennials (34%) report receiving sex education instruction as part of their middle and high school curriculum. Conversely, roughly one in five white (21%) and API millennials (22%) say they never took a sex education class, while nearly three in ten black (29%) and Hispanic millennials (27%) say the same. No millennials are less likely to report having a sex education course than those who identify as white evangelical Protestant. More than one-third (34%) of white evangelical Protestant mil- FIGURE 2. Did you take a sex education class as part of the curriculum in middle school or high school? Among Millennials 19 White Evangelical Protestant Millennials Yes, in middle school only All Millennials Yes, in high school only Yes, in both middle and high school 39 No, did not take a sex education class Refused 32 Source: Public Religion Research Institute, Millennials, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health Survey, March 2015.

19 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH 13 lennials report never taking a sex education class. Roughly one in five Hispanic Catholic (28%), black Protestant (26%), Hispanic Protestant (23%), white Catholic (20%), and religiously unaffiliated millennials (21%) also say they did not have a sex education class in middle or high school. Only 10% of white mainline Protestant millennials say they did not have a sex education class in school. Millennials generally trust that the information they received in sex education class is medically accurate. Among millennials who had a sex education class in school, nine in ten say that to the best of their knowledge, the information they received is very (39%) or somewhat (51%) accurate. Only nine percent say that information presented in their sex education class was not accurate. Confidence in the accuracy of information that millennials received in sex education classes remains strong across racial, ethnic, and religious groups. However, fewer millennials report that what they learned in sex education class was helpful to them when making personal decisions about sex and relationships, although most say the classes were at least somewhat helpful. About six in ten (62%) millennials say that the information provided to them in sex education classes was very (19%) or somewhat (43%) helpful. Nearly four in ten (37%) millennials say that sex education classes were not helpful to them in making decisions about sex and relationships. Opinions about the usefulness of sex education vary somewhat by race and ethnicity, with black and Hispanic millennials reporting that classes were more helpful than white and API millennials. Black (27%) and Hispanic millennials (32%) are about twice as likely as white (14%) and API millennials (12%) to say that sex education classes were very helpful to them in making decisions about sex and relationships. Notably, there are no differences by religious affiliation on the usefulness of sex education classes. The most frequently covered topic in sex education classes as reported by millennials is sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Eighty-six percent of millennials say that their sex education class covered this topic. Roughly eight in ten (78%) millennials report that their sex education class covered pregnancy and birth control, while nearly as many (71%) say the class covered the topic of abstinence. Substantially fewer millennials (45%) report that their sex education class covered the topic of healthy relationships, while only 12% say the subject of same-sex relationships was covered in their sex education class. With one exception, there are no racial differences in the topics that millennials report were covered in their sex education classes. Hispanic millennials (56%) are less likely than white (76%), black (71%), and API millennials (66%) to say their sex education classes included a discussion of abstinence. When asked about the best approach for preventing unintended pregnancies among young people, millennials place much more confidence in approaches that stress safe sexual practices

20 14 MILLENNIALS, SEXUALITY, AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH and contraception than abstinence. More than two-thirds (67%) of millennials say that emphasizing safe sexual practices and birth control is a better way to prevent unintended pregnancy than emphasizing abstinence from sex. There is general agreement across racial and ethnic lines that an emphasis on safe sex and contraception is a better way to prevent unintended pregnancy than an emphasis on abstinence. With one important exception white evangelical Protestants majorities of millennials in every religious tradition think emphasizing birth control is more effective in reducing unintended pregnancy among young people than promoting abstinence. Eight in ten (80%) religiously unaffiliated millennials and more than seven in ten white mainline Protestant (76%), white Catholic (72%), and Hispanic Catholic millennials (74%) say an emphasis on safe sexual practices and contraception is a better way to prevent unintended pregnancy than an emphasis on abstinence. Nearly two-thirds of black Protestant (64%) and six in ten Hispanic Protestant millennials (59%) also say that an emphasis on safe sex and birth control is the more effective approach. Among white evangelical Protestant millennials, half (50%) say that emphasizing birth control is the better way to avoid unwanted pregnancy among young people, 40% say the reverse, and eight percent say emphasizing both is the best approach. There are significant partisan divides among millennials on this question. Nearly eight in ten (79%) millennial Democrats and two-thirds (67%) of millennial independents agree that the best way to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies among young people is by emphasizing safe sexual practices and birth control. A slim majority (51%) of millennial Republicans agree, but four in ten (40%) say emphasizing abstinence is the best approach. FIGURE 3. What do you think is the better way to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies among young people? Among Millennials Source: Public Religion Research Institute, Millennials, Sexuality, and Reproductive Health Survey, March Perhaps reflecting their own generally positive experience with sex education classes, there is widespread support among millennials for teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools. Three-quarters (75%) of millennials favor teaching comprehensive sex education in public schools, while 21% are opposed. Support for this policy cuts across all racial, ethnic, and religious groups Emphasizing safe sexual practices and birth control Emphasizing abstinence Both/Other Refused

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